Star Trek Legend
by SigmaForceSpeedy
Summary: The crew of the starship "Legend" investigate a mysterious sector of space, and dire consequences follow.
1. Jounney to Wild Space

"Captain's log, stardate 2293.2. This is Captain Samuel David Cho of the U.S.S. Legend, embarking on its maiden voyage. It's mission: to scout out a section right on the very edge of Wild Space for uranium. My crew are doing well, with occasional bouts of leisure, however. I'll give it to them. Every now and then, they do need the time to let go. Our Chief Engineer, Joel White, is certainly a wizard at repairs. He managed to complete repair of one of our four nacelles, powerful engines, in less than three days. Anyway, now I must go to check on the bridge. It seems that my bridge crew have exceeded their rest time of three hours by six point three nine five seconds."

"Captain on the bridge!" Captain Samuel David Cho of the U.S.S. Legend walked through the swishing metallic grey doors and onto the bridge. He was 25 years of age, one of the youngest captains in Starfleet. His ship, the Legend, was the newest in the fleet, and it had more powerful phasers, warp nacelles thrice as fast as the usual ones, and its shields were "smart", meaning that they would automatically shift shield power to the part of the shields that the attack was coming from. Instead of being a sterile white, the corridors and bulkheads were a metallic dark grey and the lights were a cool electric blue.

The teleporters were almost instant, needing only two seconds to transport a crew member from place to place. Each crew member was also armed lightly but impressively. An advanced phaser with four modes (kill, stun, energy beam and hack beam), and a communicator. For the Legend's first mission, she was to scout out an unmarked section of Wild Space. Long-range sensors had detected minute traces of uranium vapour emanating from nebulas nearby, hinting that this section of space might hold valuable rich deposits of uranium. The Legend flew through space, warp nacelles pulsating with red light. The main engine thrummed steadily. All systems were at their maximum. Everything was going smoothly. All the crew members stopped their leisure time and got back to work.

"Mr. Kenny, how do the security readings go?" Sam asked his Security Chief Kenny Green, sitting down in his command chair and folding his thin legs over one another. "All good, Captain. So far, none of my security teams report threats, but since this ship is a Combat-Explorer class starship, one of the most powerful in Starfleet, and second of its kind. In terms of firepower, we are second only to the ancient Vengeance, so space pirates will be delighted to get their hands on us. Therefore, we will need to be on our guard. Space pirates always use undetectable small ships to leech on to massive starships, then will spring a surprise attack." Finished, Kenny turned back to his station and observed the vast expanse of glittering stars on the blackness of space that was displayed on the huge viewing panel. "It's indeed beautiful." The science officer, James Harrison observed, gazing at the stars. "Yes. A pretty galaxy, one that we have to protect." The helmswoman, Sam's twin sister, Jael Dinah Cho, said. A nod of agreement went around the bridge.

The Legend tore through space at warp speed, going three times as fast as what the legendary Enterprise could do. Suddenly, a few dozen black shapes flitted past the Legend, startling many. "Prime and lock phasers, Captain?" the trigger-happy First Officer, Ben Sawyer, asked. "No need. They are simply gas mantas. They are creatures that can fly faster than warp speed. They are harmless, feeding only on waste gas that starships produce. See, a few are going behind our exhaust vents." Sam pointed to a pop-up display on the viewport, showing several of the mantas positioning themselves behind the Legend's exhaust vents. "Interesting creatures. I just hope that none of them causes waste gas to divert back to the engine. That would be disastrous!" The voice of Chief Engineer Joel White came over the comm.

"Captain, we are dropping out of warp in a few minutes. Should we fire flares to scare the gas mantas away, such that we don't harm them when we drop?" Navigator Alexander Olson asked. "Permission granted." Sam said, pressing a few buttons to properly seal all hatches. Alex nodded at Ben, who deployed the two trigger handles on his console. Priming the rear phasers, Ben took aim and fired a salvo of flares. With loud screeches, the gas mantas shied away from the blinding light and shot off. "Heh, heh. Easy." Ben said, stowing the triggers. Alex began the countdown a few moments later. "Dropping out of warp in five...four…three…two…one…drop!" The Legend dropped out of warp speed in the middle of three nebulas. "Uranium." Jael observed, pointing at the silvery clouds wafting among the nebulas. "A wealth of radioactive minerals." Sam said as he directed a drone to fly out and take a sample for inspection. The drone came back, bearing a sample of the uranium in a sealed container. While James processed the uranium, everyone worked to direct the ship away from the beautiful but lethal nebulas and towards the blackness of space that they were supposed to chart. James gave a small "hmm" of surprise. "Everyone. This is pure, untainted uranium in its cleanest form." Everyone gasped as James projected the chemical properties of the sample onto the viewport. "It is…truly a wealth of resource." The Communications Officer, Susan James, breathed. For safety's sake, James then sealed the uranium in a containment field. With shaking hands, Sam contacted the Federation Headquarters. He calmly reported all that they had found. "All right. Park yourselves there and await the extractors. I'm sending the Rear Admiral to oversee the operation. Remember, if it is dangerous, pull out. We cannot risk our own ships." New Federation Admiral John Johnson said.

Five weeks of patient waiting followed, and soon, many light extractor ships flew within sight for the section of space, now charted as "Uranium Region". The extractor ships were then followed by larger starships, including one of the most important ships in Starfleet, the U.S.S. Firestorm, which was the personal starship of Rear Admiral Justin Blake. Justin, despite his subordinates' warnings, was eager to have a large share in the uranium and boarded the extractor ship that was first on the schedule to enter Uranium Region. He refuted the warnings that Uranium Region might be dangerous, saying that it was uncharted, and if the Federation had not charted it, it was not inhabited. He refused a security team, taking with him only his phaser rifle and some extractor tools. The last anyone saw of the Rear Admiral was his extractor ship flying into Uranium Region and disappearing behind a gas cloud. More extractor ships and fighter craft were sent to search for Justin, but they too, vanished. In the Legend, which had been completely forgotten and cast aside by the more experienced starship crews, Sam was formulating a plan to investigate. He instructed all the remaining ships to fall back while the Legend went into the section to investigate. The other ships, obviously relieved, agreed, and in a matter of hours, the Legend was flying into Uranium Region, without the slightest clue of where they could be venturing into.

Three hours, and Jael suddenly shouted. "Proximity Alert!" The Legend's smart shields diverted power to the right shields, near the nacelles, and a green torpedo crashed into them, followed by another. "Unknown assailants!" said Kenny as he yelled for the security teams to man the turrets along the sides of the Legend. "Ben! Fire at will!" Sam shouted as Ben seized the controls and squeezed the triggers. The Legend's enhanced weapons flashed, firing at where the barrage of torpedoes was coming from. "Unknown assailant hit, and their shields are at 98%!" Susan reported as klaxons began to wail.

Then, suddenly, a monstrous ship appeared out of the blackness of space. "It's a Romulan* attack cruiser! Its speed exceeds ours by factor of ten! And its size exceeds ours by factor of fifteen!" yelled James as he ran off the bridge to the engine room. "We can't outrun this ship! Our only option is to fight!" Sam concluded. The next hour was filled with near-misses, solid hits and the sky was lit up with phaser blasts. But at last, the Romulan ship was weakened, and stopped firing long enough for Sam to give the command "Engage the payload!". The Legend then fired its entire arsenal of advanced long-range photon torpedoes at the enemy ship. Dozens of explosions on the Romulan vessel were seen by the crew of the badly damaged Legend.

Sam acted quickly, formulating a plan. "Kenny! You take three security teams and guard all the access hatches. Jael, Ben and Alex, you three follow me to the ship. We are going to try and investigate. The rest of you, try and keep the ship moving away while Chief Medical Officer Marcus tends to the wounded and Joel works his repair magic. Clear? James, you take over temporarily as First Officer. Susan, you replace Jael for now. Marcus! Get Nick Ferguson to take over as Navigator! Now, people, remember, if there is any danger, for goodness' sake just get the ship out of here. Forget about us; we will take care of ourselves. Clear? Now, everyone, move out!" He and his three selected crew members rushed to an away ship while Chief Engineer Joel quickly directed his red shirt division, beginning the repair works. Marcus treated the injured crew members, and Kenny stationed his security teams around the access hatches, trying to ensure that no intruders would jump on the ship.

The four crew members of the Legend armed themselves with a modified phaser rifle each, and a powerful phaser pistol. Then they jumped into the away ship and took off for the heavily-damaged Romulan ship that completely dwarfed the Legend. As the ship streaked through a burning tunnel of debris, a string of words was faintly visible on the enemy ship's hull: NCC-1900 – U.S.S. LENIN. Unaware of the enemy ship's potential Starfleet nature, the away ship landed in what seemed to be a burning hangar. There were a few charred corpses, but Sam was shocked to see that they were dressed in Starfleet uniform. "This is strange." Alex remarked as he saw dropped standard-issue phasers in the hands of the wounded. There were a few survivors, and all except one were sorely wounded. Sam gripped the uninjured survivor and asked him, "Who are you? What have you done with the Rear Admiral Justin Blake?" The survivor laughed incredulously. "Rear Admiral? So, the old boy Blake managed to claw his way up. It is indeed pitiful that he is not with us here, safe! But let me warn you, my man, he is definitely not going to see another sunrise as himself!" Immediately, the survivor lost consciousness and fell to the deck.

Sam dropped the survivor and mulled over his words. He will not see another sunrise as himself. What could that mean? Sam called his three crewmembers who were poking around a wrecked shuttle. Jael informed her brother that the shuttle was a Starfleet light inspector craft. "Strange…" Ben thought out loud as they progressed through the burning ship on foot. At last, they came to a door. It was silver and undamaged, which was surprising. Sam opened the door, and the four were stunned to see a wholly undamaged starship inside a vast hangar the size of the ancient Vengeance. The starship was one and a half size of the Enterprise, and there were huge lengths of cable running from the ship to power outlets around the hangar.

Now the four Legend crewmembers understood. This starship, apparently named Lenin, from what could be seen on the ship's hull, was operating a huge Romulan starship from within. The huge ship had actually been nothing more than an outer shell and weapons systems. Sam activated the energy beam function on his phaser and projected the beam at the main access hatch, cutting it open. They were greeted by volleys of phaser fire and quickly took cover as the crew of the Lenin defended their starship, pouring out laserfire. Sam, his sister and two friends fought back as well as they could ever possibly hope to fight, but soon, they were surrounded.

The four crew members of the Legend were held at gunpoint until the Captain of the Lenin arrived. He was a tall Russian man in a Starfleet uniform, although their uniforms were inlaid with plates of lightweight flexible titanium mesh. "People! Lay off! Can't you see that you are threatening a Starfleet Captain? Greetings, Captain Samuel D. Cho, Ms. Jael D. Cho, Mr. Ben Sawyer and Mr. Alexander Olson. I do apologise for my crew's belligerence, but they were merely doing what they deemed right. I am Captain Mikhail Andreievich of the U.S.S. Lenin, and I must say, for a Combat-Explorer starship, you put up more of a fight than what we expected. However, I can see that you are heavily damaged. How interesting. Come and I shall tell you of my tale." Mikhail led the four to the bridge, where he sat them down and started his story.


	2. Mikhail's Story

The four crew members of the Legend were held at gunpoint until the Captain of the Lenin arrived. He was a tall Russian man in a Starfleet uniform, although their uniforms were inlaid with plates of lightweight flexible titanium mesh. "People! Lay off! Can't you see that you are threatening a Starfleet Captain? Greetings, Captain Samuel D. Cho, Ms. Jael D. Cho, Mr. Ben Sawyer and Mr. Alexander Olson. I do apologise for my crew's belligerence, but they were merely doing what they deemed right. I am Captain Mikhail Andreievich of the U.S.S. Lenin, and I must say, for a Combat-Explorer starship, you put up more of a fight than what we expected. However, I can see that you are heavily damaged. How interesting. Come and I shall tell you of my tale." Mikhail led the four to the bridge, where he sat them down and started his story.

"I was commanded by Starfleet to chart this region of space ten years ago. You call it Uranium Region now. We call it Hell Region. We know that there is precious uranium in this region, but it is highly toxic, clean as it may seem. This uranium is what exploded in the atomic bombs of World War Two years ago. The isotope uranium-235. Your sensors detect cleanliness, but they are wrong. Your sensors were built by engineers who relied on and trusted the fact that elements found in space are always clean. However, this is not the case for this uranium, which is the deadly isotope. If I were you, I would have chucked out all taken samples of the uranium and quarantined the ship."

Mikhail took a sip of water and continued. "Now, as to why I am still here and why your Rear Admiral has disappeared. Ten years ago, I was sent here to scout out, I believe I mentioned this before. We were attacked by a fleet of Romulan ships, and suffered heavy losses. However, one of the Romulan flagships, the one that you saw attacking you, was damaged internally by our torpedoes. We flew straight for it, hoping to get closer for a clean shot and somehow, we flew straight through an energy barrier. Then, we suddenly found ourselves in this hangar, within the Romulan vessel, our bridge controls warped such that we could control the outer vessel. All Romulan hands on this vessel were lost when we passed through this barrier. We have been protecting this section of space, as per the dying Romulan Captain's last wishes when he hailed us as we were rushing for his vessel. All has been well, but boring for these past years, until your Rear Admiral Justin appeared in an extractor ship. Believe me, I played no part in his disappearance. I merely was sitting here in my ship and hailing him to try and turn back. We knew each other way back in Starfleet Academy and he was as stubborn as always. He wanted to attack me! But before he launched his attack, he instructed me to destroy all ships that came after him, to safeguard his uranium possession. I refused. He fired all phasers at my shields. So, I hit his side nacelle with a glancing torpedo blast and he fled, behind that gas cloud over there. I know what is behind that cloud, but I fear it, therefore I will not go. I wanted to spare all the ships that came after him the agony that was behind that cloud, so I would try to blow out their nacelles such that they would turn around, but alas, they fled in the wrong direction. This is the same reason why I attacked you, but you made the right choice of falling back." Mikhail was finished with his long tale and fell silent. "What is behind the cloud?" Ben demanded. "I dare not say their name, but I believe my Commander Anna does not believe in bad omens. Anna?" A tall blonde woman stepped forward. "I trust you have heard of the Borg?" she asked. A murmur ran around the assembled crew. "There is a Borg hive on the planet that is permanently obscured by the gas cloud. Whenever a ship comes into view, they will aim a freeze blast at it to immediately send the occupants into cryogenic freeze. Then the ships are tractor-beamed onto the surface where a team of Borg troopers are waiting…you get my drift?" Anna continued. "We have lost dozens to them." Sam now realised what the survivor had meant by "…he is definitely not going to see another sunrise as himself!" The survivor knew that Justin would be assimilated by the Borg and turned into one of them. Sam shared this fact with Mikhail, who nodded grimly. "Very likely the ones who followed are going to be assimilated too." Jael realised out loud.

"Captain Andreievich, the starship Legend is hailing us." Sam rose and watched the screen light up. The face of Kenny appeared. "Captain Cho! Joel has finished the repairs. We were worried about your…oh! Starfleet personnel? What is happening? Please explain, Captain of this ship." Mikhail drew himself up to his full height, and spoke. "Greetings, Lieutenant Commander Kenny Green of the Legend. Your Captain is with me, and please rest assured that no harm will come to him or his crew. I am Captain Mikhail Andreievich of the Lenin." Mikhail then poured out his tale for the crew of the Legend to hear. Kenny nodded after Mikhail was done. "You seem trustworthy, Captain Andreievich. We shall leave the safety of our Captain, Helmswoman, First Officer and Navigator to you. I wanted to inform Captain Cho that repairs are nearly done, and what do we do next. Captain?" Sam faced Kenny and explained that a rescue mission might be feasible to rescue Justin and the others from the Borg hive. Kenny shuddered at the mention of the Borg. "The Borg? You mean the ones who deadpan, 'Resistance is Futile'?" Sam nodded grimly. "Kenny, you have full command of the Legend now as Acting Captain. Hail the other ships and try and get them to aid us on the mission. After you have hailed all the other ships, report and follow us." Kenny nodded. "I understand, Captain. Acting Captain Kenny Green out." Kenny then cut the connection.

Meanwhile, in the Borg hive of BG-389, the captives were held frozen in cryo-tubes, awaiting assimilation. The new Queen of the Borg, the beautiful Landra, stopped at Justin's cryo-tube. "Unfreeze this one." She said in a high, silvery voice. Two Borg troopers grabbed the tube and a Borg scientist pressed a few buttons and pulled a few levers, rapidly thawing the tube and awakening the Rear Admiral inside. Justin pounded on the tube. "What is this?! You have committed an act of war against the Federation!" Landra smiled simply. "I know all your secrets, Justin Blake of Starfleet. Why don't I remind you of your charming young wife Lisa, killed in the explosion of the starship Resilient? And the explosion was due to a skirmish with the Borg?" Justin stopped, taken off-guard, and snarled. "What do you want, Borg?" Landra smiled, and continued. "I can bring her back, for she is frozen in one of our tanks, but in return, you will submit to our cause." Justin paused, then shook his head. "I will not be myself again…and neither will she! We will both be assimilated! Never!" "Very well!" Landra raised her voice for the first time. "Guards! Take him to the table!" Four troopers wrestled Justin out of the tube and restrained him on an operating table with the help of clamps and laser bands. Landra shook her head sadly. "Lisa would not want to see you like this, Justin." Then, Landra raised her blaster, and shot him with a stun blast. Justin fell unconscious, and the surgeons went to work.

Kenny was having a hard time trying to persuade the other Captains, who all refused to help. He was about to give up, however, when an unknown starship hailed them. A tall, slightly gaunt man in a black Starfleet uniform appeared on the screen. "Greetings, Acting Captain Green. I am Captain Adler Juergen of the U.S.S. Eclipse, a secret starship commissioned five years ago in a secret space dock. The Eclipse was the first Combat-Explorer starship to be built. I can see that the Legend is the second. How nice. I know of your situation, and me and my crew would be happy to help you terminate the Borg and rescue the Starfleet personnel." Kenny nodded. "Meet us on the edge of Uranium Region, coordinates 76-98-15-87. Acting Captain Kenny Green out." Kenny nodded to his crew. Unexpected help was better than no help, right? Then, broadcasting all throughout the ship, Kenny ordered all crew members to take a phaser pistol and a phaser rifle each, and prepare for the upcoming fight. "Joel, are we all set?" The Chief Engineer's voice came loud and clear. "Yes, except that two of our portside phaser banks are depleted. I am sending a crew over to refill them. Carry on." Kenny suddenly saw a huge black Federation starship approach. In design and appearance, it was similar to the Legend: four pulsing nacelles, two main engines in the engine hub, a streamlined saucer and plenty of well-tuned armaments. The red words "NCC-4000 U.S.S. ECLIPSE" were visible on the surface of the saucer. The Eclipse hailed the Legend, and Adler's face came into view. "I am here, Acting Captain. Lead the way." Kenny contacted Sam, who gave the go-ahead, and the two Combat-Explorer class starships flew into Uranium Region, or more properly known now, Hell Region.

At the same time, as decided by both Captains, the Lenin disengaged itself from the Romulan shell and flew close to the gas cloud, waiting for the other two ships. The phaser banks, having never been used before as the only weapons previously used were Romulan, were spanking new. So were the engines. The practically brand-new Lenin waited for three hours, lights blinking, before the Legend and the Eclipse came into view. Sam, Jael, Ben and Alex then returned to their own starship. Once everyone was ready, the three starships flew past the gas cloud and for BG-389, all phasers primed and ready to fire.

"Your Highness, three starships come into view." Landra turned. A Borg sentry was there, holding his rifle respectfully. "How large are they?" Landra inquired. This was when the sentry looked scared. "Speak, child." Landra commanded. "Two Combat-Explorer starships, and one Defiant attack cruiser. They make the largest starship that we captured seem like an ant to us." Landra's eyes widened. "Engage them." "Yes, your Highness." The sentry saluted and ran off. "Everyone! Move out! Pilots! To your shuttles! Engage the three ships!"

The crew of the Legend, Lenin and Eclipse watched an immense cloud of Borg fighters lift off and race for them. "Ready, everyone? (Each of the three starships always had the other two on permanent hailing)" Adler asked. Nods of "affirmative" and "All ready and good to go" went around all three ships. "Good. Engage enemy fighters!" Adler commanded as all three starships went into red-alert mode and started to engage the Borg fighters. The Borg fighters were fast, but they were no match for the enhanced homing phasers of the Legend and the Eclipse. The Lenin also fought well, using its Defiant-class phasers to blow the Borg out of the sky. The three starship crews gave it everything they had, until no more Borg ships came. "Where did they go?" wondered Alex. Then, seven huge Borg flagships took off and stopped a few thousand metres away from the three Starfleet ships. The face of Landra appeared. "Greetings, Captains. I am Queen Landra of the Borg, and I would suggest that you lower all shields and disarm phasers, and prepare for landing parties. If not, I have the power to assimilate you remotely. If you do not power off, I will assimilate you all and you will wake as an almost mindless Drone of the Borg. Now, shall we begin?" Sam, Mikhail and Adler looked at each other.


End file.
